Recording medium containing supplementary service information for audio/video contents, and method and apparatus of providing supplementary service information of the recording medium

ABSTRACT

The present invention relates to method and apparatus of providing supplementary service information for A/V contents written in a recording medium. This method has a recording medium containing Presentation Language data, which have to be included like as in a digital television signal for supplementary service information in accordance with Advanced TV Enhancement Forum or Digital TV Application Software Environment standard, and reproduces, if a disk reproduction is requested, the Presentation Language data as well as requested A/V data and provides them for a connected external device such as a digital television. As a result, various video information and functions provided with Presentation Language data by a recording medium can be realized at a digital television set being able to accept Presentation Language data.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention

[0002] The present invention relates to method and apparatus for havingan optical recording medium containing Presentation Language (called‘PL’ hereinafter) data, which have to be included in a digitaltelevision signal for supplementary service information in accordancewith Advanced TV Enhancement Forum (called ‘ATVEF’ hereinafter) orDigital TV Application Software Environment (called ‘DASE’ hereinafter)standard, and providing the PL data contained in a recording medium fora connected external apparatus.

[0003] 2. Description of the Related Art

[0004] In these days, several standards for providing varioussupplementary services through digital television broadcast signal areunder discussion. These standards are in regard to applying InternetProtocol Language such as HTML, Java Script, CSS, and DOM to digitaltelevision broadcast signal composed of A/V (Audio/Video) signals. ATVEFstandard, which is under discussion with Microsoft company as a leader,is one of them. Another developing standard is DASE which is underdiscussion in ATSC sub-committee.

[0005] Therefore, a digital television set is likely to satisfy ATVEF orDASE standard, which means that it can receive and process PL dataincluded in digital television broadcast signal to provide a viewer withvarious additional functions.

[0006] A digital television set being able to receive PL data of ATVEFor DASE standard will be configured as FIG. 1. The digital televisionset 100 of FIG. 1 comprises a VSB tuner 1 tuning VSB (VestigialSideband)-modulated digital television broadcast signal received throughan antenna, and extracting MPEG transport stream belonging to a channelchosen by a viewer from the tuned signal; an MPEG decoder 2 decoding A/Vdata stream contained in the extracted transport stream to originalpicture and sound data; and a PL separator 3 extracting PL datacontained in the extracted transport stream; and a storage unit 4 suchas a hard disk or memory banks for storing the extracted PL data; a PLinterpreter 5 interpreting PL data stored in the storage unit 4 orreceived from the PL separator 3; a graphic generator 6 generating agraphic image in accordance with the PL data interpretation; and a mixer7 mixing synchronously picture data from the MPEG decoder 2 with thegenerated graphic image from the graphic generator 6 to be presentedtogether onto a screen.

[0007] The digital television set 100 configured as above tunes adigital television broadcast signal received through an antenna, decodestransport stream of a chosen channel among the tuned signal, andpresents the decoded data by moving pictures and sounds. At the sametime, the digital television set 100 separates PL data from thetransport stream, interprets the PL data, generates a graphic image inaccordance with the interpretation of PL data, and overlays the graphicimage onto the displayed picture as shown in FIG. 2.

[0008] As aforementioned, PL data will have a format like Internetlanguage such as HTML, Java Script, CSS, and DOM, and are provided forvarious supplementary services from a broadcast station. The PL datafrom a broadcast station are likely to have a syntax of ‘http://[sitename][attribute]’, for example “http://lge.com/hdvdp.html”. In ATVEFstandard, uni-directional HTTP is probably applied to PL data. All orpartial PL data are to be stored in the storage unit 4 forcross-referencing between HTML contents of A/V data. The PL data forcross-referencing may have a syntax of‘lid://[namespace-id][resource-path]’, for example“lid://lge.com/hdvdp.html” or “lid://abcd/hdvdp.html”.

[0009] Owing to the PL data having such a syntax, a viewer is able toview a variety of supplementary service information for broadcastedtelevision programs of a chosen channel through graphic images createdbased on the received PL data while viewing the broadcasted programs.

[0010] In addition, a high-density recording medium such as a DVD or ahigh-density DVD being able to store high-quality video data has beendeveloped. Therefore, a disk apparatus for recording/reproducingtelevision broadcast signal including PL data to/from such ahigh-density recording medium is under development among relatedcompanies.

[0011] However, it has not been specified how a high-density diskrecording/reproducing apparatus stores PL data provided pursuant toATVEF or DASE standard to a high-density recording medium, provides thestored PL data for a data presentation apparatus such as a digitaltelevision set, and supports PL data jointly with a digital televisionset. Therefore, such pending matters should be definitely settled assoon as possible.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0012] It is an object of the present invention to provide method andapparatus of providing supplementary service information of A/V contentsthrough a recording medium, which has a recording medium containing PLdata as supplementary service information, which is included in digitalbroadcast signal according to ATVEF or DASE standard, besides real A/Vdata to be presented, and reads PL data only or along with real A/V datato send them to a connected digital television set as well as interpretsPL data and conducts necessary operations the interpretation isindicative of.

[0013] It is another object of the present invention to provide arecording medium storing PL data as supplementary service information,which is in accordance with ATVEF or DASE standard, besides written A/Vcontents.

[0014] The present invention is characterized in that a recording mediumincludes A/V data; navigation data for control of searching andreproducing the A/V data; and language-formatted data an A/V presentingapparatus can interpret.

[0015] The present invention is also characterized in that a method ofproviding supplementary service information for A/V contents from arecording medium, comprising the steps of reproducing A/V data andlanguage-formatted data, which a digital television set can interpret,from a recording medium, and transmitting the reproduced A/V data andlanguage-formatted data to a connected external apparatus through adigital interface.

[0016] The present invention is also characterized in that an apparatusof reproducing a recording medium containing supplementary serviceinformation for written A/V contents, comprising a data pickup readingdata written in the recording medium, a data separator separating theread data consisting of transport packets into A/V data andlanguage-formatted data, which a digital television set can interpret,based on packet identifier of each transport packet, and a datatransmitter transmitting the separated A/V data and language-formatteddata to a connected external apparatus through a digital interface.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0017] The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide afurther understanding of the invention, illustrate the preferredembodiments of the invention, and together with the description, serveto explain the principles of the present invention.

[0018] In the drawings:

[0019]FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a digital television set being ableto accept PL data provided additionally according to ATVEF or DASEstandard;

[0020]FIG. 2 is an example of video picture presented with a graphicimage generated based on supplementary service information;

[0021]FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a mutually connected optical diskdevice and a digital television set which are configured in accordancewith the present invention;

[0022]FIG. 4 is another block diagram of a high-density DVD player whichfurther includes a PL separator as internal elements;

[0023]FIG. 5 shows a digital television set connected with a pluralityof disk devices; and

[0024] FIGS. 6 to 9 depict several hierarchical data structures of ahigh-density DVD according to each embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

[0025] In order that the invention may be fully understood, a preferredembodiment thereof will now be described with reference to theaccompanying drawings.

[0026]FIG. 3 shows a block diagram of a mutually connected optical diskdevice and a digital television set which are configured in accordancewith the present invention.

[0027] The disk device 300 of FIG. 3 may be a HD (High-Density) DVDplayer comprising an optical pickup 32 reading signals written in aHD-DVD 31; a signal processor 33 binarizing RF signals read from theHD-DVD 31 and restoring the binarized signal into original digital data;a PL interpreter 34 conducting reproduction of A/V data and PL datawritten in the HD-DVD 31 according to PL data or commands received froma connected digital television set; and an interfacing unit 35transmitting the reproduced A/V and PL data to the connected digitaltelevision set through IEEE 1394 interface.

[0028] The digital television set 200 of FIG. 3 comprises, as describedfor FIG. 1, a VSB tuner 21 tuning VSB-modulated digital televisionbroadcast signal received through an antenna, and extracting MPEGtransport stream belonging to a channel chosen by a viewer from thetuned signal; an MPEG decoder 22 decoding A/V data stream contained inthe extracted transport stream or received from the HD-DVD player 300 tooriginal picture and sound data; and a PL separator 23 extracting PLdata contained in the transport stream from the VSB tuner 21 or theHD-DVD player 300; and a storage unit 24 for storing the extracted PLdata; a PL interpreter 25 interpreting PL data stored in the storageunit 24 or received from the PL separator 23, and conducting commandindicated by PL data selected by a user; a graphic generator 26generating a graphic image in accordance with the PL datainterpretation; a mixer 27 mixing synchronously picture data from theMPEG decoder 22 with the generated graphic image from the graphicgenerator 26 to be presented together onto a screen; and an interfacingunit 28 communicating data with the HD-DVD player 300.

[0029] The HD-DVD player 300 reproduces real A/V data and PL data fromthe HD-DVD 31 and transmits them thorough an isochronous channel of theinterfacing unit 35. Then, the digital television set 200 separates datareceived through the isochronous channel of the interfacing unit 28 intoA/V data and PL data. Instead of transmitting A/V and PL data throughsame channel, the HD-DVD player 300 may transmit them via differentchannels, that is, real A/V data through the isochronous channel and PLdata through an asynchronous channel.

[0030]FIG. 4 shows another block diagram of a HD-DVD player whichfurther includes a PL separator 36. In the HD-DVD player configured asFIG. 4, the PL interpreter 34 receives PL data through the asynchronouschannel of the interfacing unit 35, interprets PL data read from theHD-DVD 31 or received from the channel, and controls reproductionoperation of the HD-DVD 31 in accordance with the interpretation of PLdata. Therefore, PL data may be used as navigation data for reproductioncontrol. In the meantime, the PL separator 36 separates data reproducedfrom the HD-DVD 31 into real A/V data and PL data which are transmittedthrough the isochronous and asynchronous channel respectively, of theinterfacing unit 35.

[0031] A digital television set may be connected other optical diskdevices such as a HD-DVD recorder 400 and a DVD player 500 besides theHD-DVD player 300 as shown in FIG. 5. Therefore, a digital televisionset should know which device PL data is related with among the connectedHD-DVD player 300, the HD-DVD recorder 400, and the DVD player 500, sothat an identifier is defined to use in PL data. For example, the stringof ‘hdvdp’ is defined as the identifier for the HD-DVD player, so thatPL data for the HD-DVD player 300 has a syntax of ‘hdvdp://[space-id][resource-id]’, the string of ‘hdvdr’ is defined for the HD-DVDrecorder, so that PL data for the HD-DVD recorder 400 has a syntax of‘hdvdr://[space-id] [resource-id]’, and for the DVD player 500, itsidentifier is ‘dvdp’ and its PL syntax has the format of‘dvdp://[space-id] [resource-id]’. According to the these rules, thedigital television set 200 can distinguish which device and contentscurrent PL data is requesting.

[0032] If a plurality of same devices are connected, for example, twoHD-DVD player are connected, an additional identifier such as appendednumber digits is used to discriminate between same devices.

[0033] The part ‘[resource-id]’ in the PL data syntax is used todesignate unique contents contained in a corresponding device. Thus, the‘[resource-id]’ indicates directory, file, title, or chapter stored in aHD-DVD or DVD with its name or number. The PL data including the deviceidentifier makes PL data applicable to bi-directional protocol.Therefore, PL data can be also delivered from the digital television set200 to other connected device (300, 400, or 500). At this time, the PLdata may be used a command requesting a certain operation of theconnected device, and they are delivered through the asynchronouschannel of IEEE 1394 interface standard.

[0034] The digital television set 200 obtains PL data through processingthe received digital television broadcast signal, and displays contentsof the obtained PL data on a menu screen. Among displayed PL data, oneis chosen by a user, then the digital television set 200 sends thechosen PL data to a connected device the identifier contained in the PLdata is indicative of in order to request an access of contents, writtenin a recording medium, the chosen PL data is pointing to. In addition,it is possible to access contents written in a recording medium of aconnected device or data stored in the storage unit 24 of the digitaltelevision set 200 by using of PL data from another connected device.

[0035] Owing to this usage of PL data, menu can be constructed on ascreen of a digital television set for itself or other devices withoutits own menu data by using PL data provided from other source device. Onthe contrary, a conventional DVD device should have its own menu datafor displaying to a user.

[0036] Hereinafter described is a data recording structure of arecording medium to which a method of reproducing supplementary serviceinformation for A/V contents according to the present invention isapplicable.

[0037]FIG. 6 depicts hierarchical data structure of a HD-DVD accordingto an embodiment of the present invention.

[0038] The HD-DVD is partitioned into a file system area and a videozone. The video zone contains one or more titles, and each titleconsists of presentation data and their navigation data.

[0039] The presentation data consist a plurality of high-density Packs(called ‘HDPK’s hereinafter), whose size is fixed, for example 2048bytes, and each HDPK is composed of pack header and pack data in whichseveral Transport Packets (called ‘TP’s hereinafter) are included. Inthe area of each pack data, TPs containing real A/V data and TPscontaining PL data in accordance ATVEF standard, that is, ATVEF data areinterleaved as shown in FIG. 6. Each TP has Packet Identifier (called‘PID’ hereinafter) to differentiate an A/V data TP from ATVEF data one.

[0040] A recording medium whose recorded data structure is configured asabove is conceptually divided into two zones, one for navigation data,and the other for A/V data and ATVEF data whose TPs are interleavedwithin a HDPK.

[0041] When the HD-DVD player 200 configured as FIG. 4 reproduces theHD-DVD whose recorded data structure is as shown in FIG. 6, the PLseparator 34 examines Program Service Information, written in the HD-DVDas management information, defining PIDs for all TP types, and confirmsPIDs indicative of A/V data TP and ATVEF data one. Then, the PLseparator 34 checks PID of every TPs included in presentation datareproduced from the HD-DVD 31 and separates A/V data TP and ATVEF dataone based on their PIDs. The separated A/V data TPs and ATVEF data onesare transmitted to the digital television set 300 through theisochronous and asynchronous channel respectively, of the interfacingunit 35.

[0042] The digital television set 300 receives A/V data TPs throughisochronous channel of the interfacing unit 28, and decodes the A/V dataTPs to original video and sound data through the MPEG decoder 22. TheATVEF data TPs received through the asynchronous channel of theinterfacing unit 28 are sent to the PL separator 23.

[0043] The ATVEF data TPs are interpreted and converted to acorresponding graphic image while being processed sequentially by the PLseparator 23, the PL interpreter 25, and the graphic generator 26. Thegraphic image is synchronously mixed with a video picture from the MPEGdecoder 22 at the mixer 27. The mixing time of the graphic image isdetermined based on PTS (Presentation Time Stamp) relation betweencorresponding ATVEF data TP and A/V data TPs.

[0044] Through the above-explained operations, PL data for supplementaryservice information can be provided for a digital television set alongwith A/V contents written in a recording medium like as digitaltelevision broadcast programs according to ATVEF or DASE standard.

[0045] The PL interpreter 34 of the HD-DVD player 200 may transmit allTPs included in reproduced presentation data through only isochronouschannel of the interfacing unit 35 without checking PID of each TP. Inthis case of not separating, the interfacing unit 28 of the digitaltelevision set 300 further conducts the functions of checking andseparating, that is, it checks PID of every TPs received through theisochronous channel, and separates A/V data TP and ATVEF data one basedon their PIDs. A digital television set may equip with an additionalelement (not figured) to conduct the checking and separating instead ofthe function-integrated interfacing unit.

[0046] The separated A/V data and ATVEF data TPs are sent to the MPEGdecoder 22 and the PL separator 23, respectively. The A/V data TPs aredecoded to original video and sound data by the MPEG decoder 22, and theATVEF data TPs are converted to a corresponding graphic image throughsequential processes of the PL separator 23, the PL interpreter 25, andthe graphic generator 26. Finally, the graphic image generated from oneor more ATVEF data TPs is synchronously mixed with successive videopictures from the MPEG decoder 22 at the mixer 27, and then the mixedvideo pictures are presented onto a screen.

[0047] Hereinafter described is another data recording structure of arecording medium to which a method of reproducing supplementary serviceinformation for A/V contents according to the present invention isapplicable.

[0048]FIG. 7 depicts hierarchical data structure of a HD-DVD accordingto another embodiment of the present invention.

[0049] The HD-DVD of FIG. 7 is partitioned into a file system area and avideo zone which contains one or more titles and each title consists ofpresentation data and their navigation data the same as FIG. 6. However,this structure is different from that of FIG. 6 in that ATVEF data TPsand A/V data TPs are written in different HDPKs.

[0050] A recording medium whose recorded data structure is configured asabove is conceptually divided into two zones, one for navigation dataand the other for A/V data and ATVEF data which are written in differentHDPKs.

[0051]FIG. 8 depicts hierarchical data structure of a HD-DVD accordingto another embodiment of the present invention. In this data structure,ATVEF data are written with complete separation from all recorded A/Vdata like navigation data.

[0052] A recording medium whose recorded data structure is configured asFIG. 8 is conceptually divided into two zones, one for navigation dataand ATVEF data which are separated each other, and the other for pureA/V data.

[0053]FIG. 9 depicts hierarchical data structure of a HD-DVD accordingto another embodiment of the present invention. In this data structure,ATVEF data are written in both of area for navigation data and area forA/V data. The partial ATVEF data in the A/V data area are written indifferent HDPKs with A/V data like as the embodiment of FIG. 7.

[0054] A recording medium whose recorded data structure is configured asFIG. 9 is conceptually divided into two zones, one for navigation dataand partial ATVEF data which are separated each other, and the other forA/V data and partial ATVEF data which are written in different HDPKs.

[0055] The ATVEF data, written in navigation data area as shown FIGS. 8and 9, can be used as navigation data for control of searching andreading real A/V data contained in the HD-DVD 31. For example, in theHD-DVD player 300 in which the PL separator 36 and the PL interpreter 34are equipped separately, the PL interpreter 34 can interpret PL datareproduced from the navigation data area of the HD-DVD 31 and conduct anoperation in accordance with search or control information indicated bythe interpreted PL data.

[0056] For the data structure of FIG. 8, ATVEF data can not bereproduced at the same time as A/V data are reproduced along tracks, sothat they are suitable for menu data if menu is composed of commandsrequesting selection and reproduction of contents recorded in arecording medium to a corresponding device.

[0057] The method and apparatus of providing supplementary serviceinformation of A/V contents through a recording medium according to thepresent invention, can supply a digital television set with PresentationLanguage data of supplementary service information, like as in a digitalbroadcast signal satisfying ATVEF or DASE standard, for A/V contentsrecorded in a recording medium as well as A/V contents, therefore,various video information and functions provided with PL data by arecording medium can be realized at a digital television set being ableto accept PL data.

[0058] The invention may be embodied in other specific forms withoutdeparting from the spirit or essential characteristics thereof. Thepresent embodiments are therefore to be considered in all respects asillustrative and not restrictive, the scope of the invention beingindicated by the appended claims rather than by the foregoingdescription and all changes which come within the meaning and range ofequivalency of the claims are therefore intended to be embraced therein.

What is claimed is:
 1. A recording medium, including audio/video data;navigation data for control of searching and reproducing the audio/videodata; and language-formatted data an audio/video presenting apparatuscan interpret.
 2. The recording medium set forth in claim 1 , whereinsaid language-formatted data satisfies a digital television broadcaststandard which has been proposed for applying Internet Protocol Languagesuch as HTML, Java Script, CSS, and DOM to a television broadcast signalin order to provide various supplementary services through digitaltelevision broadcast signal.
 3. The recording medium set forth in claim1 , wherein said language-formatted data are interleaved with theaudio/video data within each pack in an area for the audio/video data.4. The recording medium set forth in claim 1 , wherein saidlanguage-formatted data are written in different packs with theaudio/video data in an area for the audio/video data.
 5. The recordingmedium set forth in claim 1 , wherein said language-formatted data arewritten in an area for the navigation data with separation from thenavigation data.
 6. The recording medium set forth in claim 1 , whereinsaid language-formatted data are divided into two parts which arewritten in two areas of navigation and audio/video data, respectively.7. A method of providing supplementary service information foraudio/video contents from a recording medium, comprising the steps of:(a) reproducing audio/video data and language-formatted data, which adigital television set can interpret, from a recording medium; and (b)transmitting the reproduced audio/video data and language-formatted datato a connected external apparatus through a digital interface.
 8. Themethod set forth in claim 7 , wherein said step (a) checks a packetidentifier of each transport packets reproduced from the recordingmedium, and discriminates language-formatted data packet fromaudio/video data packet based on the checked packet identifier.
 9. Themethod set forth in claim 8 , wherein said step (a) identifies thevalues of packet identifiers of audio/video data and language-formatteddata in advance from program service information written in navigationdata area of the recording medium.
 10. The method set forth in claim 7 ,wherein said step (b) transmits both of the reproduced audio/video dataand language-formatted data through an isochronous channel of thedigital interface.
 11. The method set forth in claim 7 , wherein saidstep (b) transmits the reproduce audio/video data and language-formatteddata through an isochronous channel and an asynchronous channelrespectively, of the digital interface.
 12. The method set forth inclaim 7 , further comprising the step of interpreting the reproducedlanguage-formatted data, and conducting an operation in accordance withthe interpretation.
 13. An apparatus of reproducing a recording mediumcontaining supplementary service information for written audio/videocontents, comprising: a data pickup reading data written in therecording medium; a data separator separating the read data consistingof transport packets into audio/video data and language-formatted data,which a digital television set can interpret, based on packet identifierof each transport packet; and a data transmitter transmitting theseparated audio/video data and language-formatted data to a connectedexternal apparatus through a digital interface.
 14. The apparatus setforth in claim 13 , further comprising a data interpreter interpretingthe reproduced language-formatted data.
 15. The apparatus set forth inclaim 13 , wherein said external apparatus is a digital television setconnected through IEEE 1394 standard interface.
 16. The apparatus setforth in claim 13 , wherein said data transmitter supportsbi-directional communication protocol for the language-formatted data.17. The apparatus set forth in claim 16 , wherein saidlanguage-formatted data has a syntax for supporting a way of designatingand accessing contents of other apparatus.